The Delaware House of Representatives has placed on the Ready List House Bill 150, legislation that would legalize marijuana and set up a commercial, taxed market for the drug. While it's possible the bill could pass the House, it would still face two roadblocks: The session ends June 30, and Gov. John Carney has all but promised to veto the bill.
Gov. Carney’s opposition to this push to expand Big Pot into Delaware should be applauded.
While supporters of the effort to legalize in Delaware, and elsewhere, represent weed as a part of the fight for social justice and equity, legalization is not about stopping arrests for smoking pot — which hasn’t truly been an issue since 2015, when possession of an ounce of marijuana was decriminalized — nor is it helping minority-owned small businesses.
It’s about enriching Big Tobacco and Alcohol investors by creating a for-profit, Colorado-style marijuana industry with pot shops on every corner. And increasingly, those pot shops and the marijuana growers supplying them are owned and operated by Big Business. It’s also worth pointing out that less than 4% of the marijuana industry is Black-owned. Big Pot is almost exclusively owned and operated by wealthy White men.
And the pot you’ll find inside said stores is nothing like the weed of Woodstock. Today’s marijuana “buds” regularly measure up to 30% THC, while the increasingly popular concentrates, such as dabs and vaping devices, contain upward of 99% THC — the main, psychoactive compound in marijuana.
Research shows that marijuana use, especially heavy use, is linked with greater risks of serious mental health issues, such as anxiety, depression, schizophrenia, psychosis and suicidal thoughts. We know this from years of available research on marijuana with 3%-5% THC. When it comes to higher potency pot, we are in uncharted territory.
Legalization won’t keep pot out of the hands of kids, either.
According to a recent survey, marijuana use among those 15 and younger in Colorado has increased 14.8% since 2017. Furthermore, the state has seen rates of youth use of high-potency vapes and concentrates increase fivefold since 2015. This shocking reality led lawmakers in Colorado to nearly unanimously pass a bill just weeks ago to rein in the state’s pot industry and begin the process of exploring future strict regulations on the THC potency of marijuana products.
Health risks aren’t the only potential harms of legalization. Where marijuana has been commercialized, getting high and getting behind the wheel is becoming normalized.
A 2017 analysis by the Denver Post found that the rate of marijuana-impaired drivers involved in fatal car crashes in Colorado more than doubled since the implementation of commercialization. A new study finds a 260% increase in youth stoned driving in Colorado. Another recent AAA study found similar stoned-driving increases in Washington.
Don’t expect Delaware to see a windfall of revenue, either. If anything, California is proving that legalization could actually cost the taxpayers millions.
In California, criminal syndicates are buying up houses in subdivisions and using human trafficking to set up and staff elaborate grow ops. Gov. Gavin Newsom was even forced to send the state’s National Guard to combat massive illegal grows on public lands. These grows — which are rapidly spreading in legal states — also present unique dangers to local wildlife and other natural resources.
In response to the exploding illicit market, Gov. Newsom first resorted to spending more than a million dollars on a statewide marketing campaign urging Californians to buy marijuana from the state-licensed shops rather than from the underground market. However, it’s become clear that this effort failed. California is now spending more than $100 million to bail out the struggling industry.
Don’t think issues related to the underground marijuana market are exclusive to California, either. To date, not a single state has seen its “legal” market outpace the illicit market. In fact, new data from Illinois finds that that state’s illicit market is valued at $2.2 billion, while its “legal” market is only projected to bring in $1.9 billion.
Legalizing pot is neither safe nor smart. It’s a risky policy that has already underdelivered on the many grand promises its supporters claim. Delaware would be best served by its legislature following the lead of the governor and opposing any effort to commercialize.
Dr. Kevin Sabet is a former senior drug policy adviser to the Obama administration. He currently serves as president of Smart Approaches to Marijuana. His new book, “Smokescreen: What the Marijuana Industry Doesn’t Want You to Know,” is now available.
